Steve and I often joke about who Bennett gets her stubbornness from, or her temper. Of course I always say that it came from the Mizerany/Phillips side, and then he quickly tells me to look in the mirror...
Hmmm, I guess it depends whose point of view it is. Anyway, as I understand it, as toddlers become increasingly independent, they begin to test the limits more and more. What I just read recently in one of my magazines though is that those children who test their defiance a ton are shown to have a higher IQ. So perhaps that means Bennett is going to be a genius!
She certainly loves to test, and then retest our rules (hoping we might change them this one time). However, we try to stay strong and have a united front against her. She has become very good at throwing tantrums lately, which are certainly hard for us to listen to and watch. I didn't realize how early they would start, I always thought it would be part of her "terrible twos." However, we have found that if we walk off and ignore her, she tends to calm down quicker than if we stand there and watch or try to talk her out of it.
Any advice from you mommys with older kids is always welcome....